SPORTS OF THE TIMES

SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Boxing Needs a New Kefauver

By Dave Anderson

Published: November 16, 1990

Near the end of "Rocky V," the old champ, broke and brain-damaged, finally flattens the new champ in a savage street brawl, then turns to the promoter who would be Don King.

"Touch me," the promoter says, "and I'll sue."

With a left hook, the old champ puts the promoter who would be Don King across the hood of a car.

"For what?" the broke and brain-damaged champ says.

It's Hollywood. It's hokum. But it's also boxing. And with what is going on in boxing now, it's time for a Senate subcommittee to hold hearings as a 1960 Senate subcomittee did. Boxing needs a new Senator Estes Kefauver, whose subcommittee extracted many of boxing's nefarious negotiations of that era. Fixed fights. Corruption by promoters. Gangster influence.

The problems now might not be quite the same, but they boil down to the same three motives: money, money, money. Much more money than that of 30 years ago.

Granted, the Persian Gulf crisis and Federal spending are more important to the Senate than boxing. But perhaps Senator Sam Nunn, who has already questioned what is going on with one of his Georgia constituents named Evander Holyfield, could extract some answers under oath about what is really going on among the promoters and politicians in boxing's back rooms.

Even before Holyfield emerged as the indisputed world heavyweight champion, Don King was bleating that Mike Tyson, whom the promoter describes as "my fighter," deserved to be Holyfield's first challenger.

Now that Holyfield plans to defend the title against George Foreman on April 19 in Atlantic City, the Mexico-based World Boxing Council has threatened to withdraw its recognition of Holyfield while also hinting it would sanction a Tyson-Razor Ruddock bout for its share of the title.

Not that Holyfield needs the W.B.C.'s imprimatur. The boxing public knows that Holyfield knocked out James (Buster) Douglas, who knocked out Tyson despite King's "trickeration" about a long count in that Tokyo bout.

Holyfield is the boxing public's heavyweight champion. To be the champ, you must dethrone the champ in the ring, as Holyfield did. You don't win a title in a back room, as Tyson is trying to do with King as his ventriloquist. As a new champ, Holyfield has the right to a first defense against any rated challenger before opposing the No. 1 challenger (currently Tyson), as the Venezuela-based World Boxing Association has ruled. And as the New Jersey-based International Boxing Federation was expected to rule.

But who stirs this alphabet soup?

That's what a Senate subcomittee should investigate. It might start with the fact that each of the three most prominent promoters controls the heavyweight each represents. Dan Duva of Main Events promotes Holyfield's bouts. Bob Arum of Top Rank has choreographed George Foreman's comeback. As partners in the Holyfield-Foreman bout, Duva and Arum are now aligned against King, who supposedly pulls the strings of Jose Sulaiman, his W.B.C. puppet.

If the scenario were to change, the alignment would change. In boxing, a promotional partnership endures only until a better deal is on the horizon.

Seth Abraham, the former HBO major domo, has described boxing as today's version of "buccaneering," as if another ship to plunder is on the horizon.

In current sniping, Duva has charged that Tyson is "putting pressure on King," who contends that he doesn't even have "a piece of paper" with the ex-champion. Arum has charged that King would have accepted $3 million to let Tyson step aside quietly. King's rebuttal is, "Arum lied," always a possibility for a promoter who once acknowledged, "Yesterday I lied, but today I'm telling the truth." King, meanwhile, has accused Jimmy Binns, a Philadelphia lawyer who is the W.B.A.'s legal counsel, of being on Duva's payroll.

"I am a consultant," Binns responded, "to Dan Duva and several other promoters."

In a Senate hearing, a subcommittee might also be interested in "kickback" clauses to the promoters contained in King's proposed contracts (rejected by Duva) for a Holyfield-Tyson bout. One clause stipulated that if Holyfield were to become the undisputed champion, he would pay King anywhere from $3 million to $5 million for each of Holyfield's next three bouts. Another clause stipulated that if Tyson were to defeat Holyfield, for each of the next two heavyweight bouts King promoted, King would pay Main Events $1.5 million (if on closed-circuit or pay-per-view television) or $1 million (if on HBO).

In the confusion, Arum also has accused the Mexican-based W.B.C. -- which says is a nonprofit group -- of not paying United States taxes on its sanction fees, which for a marquee title fight amount to as much as $150,000. If that doesn't interest a Senate subcomittee, it at least should interest the Internal Revenue Service.